I hate, hate, HATE that song. I can't stand it. It's not because the song was overplayed or anything like that. It's because I can't stand that the chorus is so horribly grammatically incorrect. The chorus repeatedly asks a counter-factual question about the nature of God. In other words, it asks a question about something with a doubtful possibility of being true now or ever being true. In a case like that, proper grammar calls for the use of the English subjunctive:

Thus, the first line of the chorus should not be "What if God was one of us?" The proper form is "What if God were one of us?"

I had a great English teacher back in high school (Mrs. Martin) who pounded the subjunctive into her students' heads. She always told us that screwing up the subjunctive was a sure-fire way to sound like an ignorant hick to those who know how to properly use it. She was absolutely right. Every time I hear this song it makes me want to scream "It's were you ignorant b****!" at the radio. Thank goodness it's not played much any more.

I get why people wouldn't like Queen. I don't like some of their stuff, I do like Bohemian Rhapsody, but it's overplayed. I don't like their "next tier" stuff..."need somebody love" or whatever, and the bicycle song...I'm not sure why. I respect the talent, I just don't really care for it.

To me, a lot of Queen's stuff is so "over the top", if that makes any sense. There might be one or two songs that I like, but they're covered by other groups.

When you think of a band's influence and lasting impact, you have to look at how the world of music - not just artists in the same stylistic niche - is changed after the subject group's appearance on the scene. That said, there are perhaps five, maybe six, bands in the history of rock that can make legitimate claims to being the most important in the history of the genre. Queen is two of them.

Maybe it's an echo chamber effect, but as I sit here this morning I can't think of any bands that I love (that came out after the 70s) that don't cite Queen as a major influence.

WDVE used to play Stairway to Heaven so much in the late 80s that I detested Led Zeppelin because of it. Even though I quickly changed my thinking about the band, I found that song to be tiresome until just the last few years. Maybe it's the 2-3 live versions I have of it floating around on Google Play, but I enjoy that song is some nostalgic way.

I hate, hate, HATE that song. I can't stand it. It's not because the song was overplayed or anything like that. It's because I can't stand that the chorus is so horribly grammatically incorrect. The chorus repeatedly asks a counter-factual question about the nature of God. In other words, it asks a question about something with a doubtful possibility of being true now or ever being true. In a case like that, proper grammar calls for the use of the English subjunctive:

Thus, the first line of the chorus should not be "What if God was one of us?" The proper form is "What if God were one of us?"

I had a great English teacher back in high school (Mrs. Martin) who pounded the subjunctive into her students' heads. She always told us that screwing up the subjunctive was a sure-fire way to sound like an ignorant hick to those who know how to properly use it. She was absolutely right. Every time I hear this song it makes me want to scream "It's were you ignorant b****!" at the radio. Thank goodness it's not played much any more.

Thank you!

Same here. Anytime mentioned this to someone, I got and told to get a life. The incessant airplay made it worse.

The error is a rotten cherry on top of a melting dog-poop sundae of a song.

WDVE used to play Stairway to Heaven so much in the late 80s that I detested Led Zeppelin because of it. Even though I quickly changed my thinking about the band, I found that song to be tiresome until just the last few years. Maybe it's the 2-3 live versions I have of it floating around on Google Play, but I enjoy that song is some nostalgic way.

I used to be big on Zep and considered them one of the two or three most influential bands ever. Then I realized how much of 'their' repertoire - particularly the first four albums - was flat out stolen from older (usually black) artists.

"Babe I'm Gonna Leave You", "Black Mountain Side", "Custard Pie" (a favorite), "Dazed And Confused", "How Many More Times", "In My Time Of Dying", "The Lemon Song", "Nobody's Fault But Mine" (another favorite) "Whole Lotta Love"..... and yes, even "Stairway To Heaven". These are all songs that originally appeared on Zep albums as written by Plant/Page, but after legal action (sometimes drawn out over decades) the true authors of the material are now properly credited and compensated. And bear in mind that this is a partial list.

Basically, Zep was the world's greatest cover band. They just didn't tell anyone they were a cover band until told to do so by courts.

WDVE used to play Stairway to Heaven so much in the late 80s that I detested Led Zeppelin because of it. Even though I quickly changed my thinking about the band, I found that song to be tiresome until just the last few years. Maybe it's the 2-3 live versions I have of it floating around on Google Play, but I enjoy that song is some nostalgic way.

I used to be big on Zep and considered them one of the two or three most influential bands ever. Then I realized how much of 'their' repertoire - particularly the first four albums - was flat out stolen from older (usually black) artists.

"Babe I'm Gonna Leave You", "Black Mountain Side", "Custard Pie" (a favorite), "Dazed And Confused", "How Many More Times", "In My Time Of Dying", "The Lemon Song", "Nobody's Fault But Mine" (another favorite) "Whole Lotta Love"..... and yes, even "Stairway To Heaven". These are all songs that originally appeared on Zep albums as written by Plant/Page, but after legal action (sometimes drawn out over decades) the true authors of the material are now properly credited and compensated. And bear in mind that this is a partial list.

Basically, Zep was the world's greatest cover band. They just didn't tell anyone they were a cover band until told to do so by courts.

There is an old website (may be geocities old) that was basically a song by song rant about how derivative Led Zeppelin was. It was obviously very true, even if taken to the extreme.

I do like the raw power of Bonham's drumming, and Kashmir is a truly unique and awesome song.